Winter is Coming! Checklists, tips, advice for a newbie

[hennible]

Thanks Alaskan
They're Rouen and Rouen cross, big fat ducks. -20 something Celsius, wow crazy cold.

 

[K Epp]

Well no sign yesterday of the critter that's getting my birds. I'm tired of looking at that picture of my hand so I'm putting another of my Silkies in their coop after I winterized it last year. They are in a open coop that I cover with plastic to keep the wind out there is a vent around the top to allow for air circulation.

 

[hennible]

Have you considered baiting a large live trap?if it's a land based predator maybe you could catch it... I know it's a big maybe but you never know.

 

[K Epp]

I'd catch one of our barn cats. I'm going to get a game can set up thus weekend.

 

[hennible]

I see. Camera is better idea. Good luck

 

[Glos Girls]

Fantastic info, Thank You to all.. we are nearing Fall, so I know winter is not far behind. This will be our first winter (Ohio) with our Chickens. Need any ideas I can find here I like the idea of pine needles, those I will have plenty of and will start gathering them now. We have two coops, one houses 21 hens & the other is in the barn with 100 hens & roosters, a third is almost done, for now it will be for separating the roosters from the hens.. too much fighting & the roos need to grow before they go in the freezer. All have large outside fenced areas, (too big to cover) so looks like hubby will be using the snow blower! I will be looking into water heaters, saw some great ideas in this post, thank you. Please keep the info coming.. it is truly needed

 

[Alaskan]

[COLOR=2F4F4F]Fantastic info, Thank You to all.. we are nearing Fall, so I know winter is not far behind. This will be our first winter (Ohio) with our Chickens. Need any ideas I can find here I like the idea of pine needles, those I will have plenty of and will start gathering them now. We have two coops, one houses 21 hens & the other is in the barn with 100 hens & roosters, a third is almost done, for now it will be for separating the roosters from the hens.. too much fighting & the roos need to grow before they go in the freezer. All have large outside fenced areas, (too big to cover) so looks like hubby will be using the snow blower!  I will be looking into water heaters, saw some great ideas in this post, thank you. Please keep the info coming.. it is truly needed [/COLOR]

Don't forget to put in more ventilation than you think you want (you can always close it up if it us too much)

 

[LadyCluck77]

For a couple weeks now we've been weekend winterizing our coop. The roofing is a durable clear sheeting which is around fourteen dollars per sheet.
The little addition, built with free palates and t-11 sideboard, is to help give our gals more room, it has been insulated with leftover fiberglass insulation, and we stapled empty feed bags to cover up the insulation. The roofing and linoleum were discount from Home Depot, we also put in spray foam and caulking.
I plan to paint it all yellow to match, but it's always a work in progress. Everything we added was total just under $100, it was labor intensive, especially taking apart the palates!
Eta: we placed ventilation areas in the addition, but it's not visible in that angle. We still need to cut the hole in the existing coop to open up that area to them.

 

[magicjeep]

New bird owner question. I've been trying to read all the posts both in this thread and others and now my head is spinning. My coop is inside the run, can I just cover the run with plastic or tarps and not worry about sealing up the coop? My coop is an old little tykes play house with a few large windows.

 

[LadyCluck77]

New bird owner question. I've been trying to read all the posts both in this thread and others and now my head is spinning. My coop is inside the run, can I just cover the run with plastic or tarps and not worry about sealing up the coop? My coop is an old little tykes play house with a few large windows.

Last year was my first winter with chickens, and it was absolutely a learning experience.

It will depend greatly on where you live, what type of climate you have, how much snow you typically get, etc.
Many people do not need to prepare much- chickens are fine in fairly cold temperatures, just be prepared to accommodate their needs for food and water daily. They will also still like to go outside so some type of run cover is very helpful if you do get snow. Just bear in mind how heavy your snow is- my area often gets two feet of snow, with a few inches of freezing rain on top- which can solidify the whole mass in a pretty nasty way.
My winters typically wind up with about 4-5 feet of ground snowcover, and temps usually ranging between the mid teens to below zero into the mid teens. Last winter, however, we saw many -30 F days. I was shoulders deep in hard solid frozen snow which was impossible to remove.

If you expect freezing temperatures, many people invest in a heated water base to keep the water from freezing. I was glad I did- but I also had a hard time filling it as it was in my run, and I had to scramble around in the snow banks with a water pitcher to get to it. I have since created an access door to get to it so that I can fill it more easily. They seem to go through a lot more water when it is cold- I'm not sure if it was evaporation or just from them drinking it all up.